US Airways Express Near-Miss in Washington Probed by U.S

US Airways Group Inc. planes at Ronald Reagan National Airport. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

Aug. 2 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. regulators are investigating how
three US Airways Express regional jets were allowed to get too
close to each other near Washington’s Reagan National Airport on
July 31.

An air-traffic controller cleared two planes to take off in
sequence shortly after 2 p.m. as another lined up to land along
almost the same path in the opposite direction, according to an
e-mailed statement issued today by the Federal Aviation
Administration.

The first departing jet came within 0.94 miles of the
arriving plane, according to an FAA statement. By then, the
departing jet had climbed 800 feet above the other plane and was
continuing to climb, the agency said.

“These planes were on different headings and at different
altitudes so they would not have collided,” FAA Acting
Administrator Michael Huerta said at a news conference today.

Miscommunication between employees at the airport tower and
a regional air-traffic center in Virginia led to the incident,
Huerta and U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told
reporters.

The incident was reported earlier by the Washington Post.

The second departing jet came as close as 2.8 miles to the
arriving plane, according to the agency’s initial estimates.

Aircraft must stay at least 3.5 miles apart horizontally or
be separated by at least 1,000 feet vertically under FAA
regulations that govern flights near airports.

‘What Happened?’

The mix-up occurred as controllers were attempting to
switch the directions from which planes were landing and taking
off at the airport as a result of a storm that changed the wind,
according to the FAA. The airport primarily uses one runway.

After the controller turned the arriving plane to the right
to avoid a conflict, the pilot radioed that he had been cleared
to land.

“What happened?” he said, according to a recording of the
air-traffic broadcasts on the website LiveATC.net.

“Stand by,” the controller responded. “We’re trying to
figure this out too.”

“OK, we really don’t have the fuel for this,” the pilot
radioed a short time later. “We’ve got to get on the ground
here pretty quick.”

The pilot in the transmission didn’t declare a fuel
emergency, which would have required controllers to move other
planes out of the way to allow him to land as soon as possible.

As the tower controller tried to sort things out, she
radioed pilots waiting to depart that they would be delayed.

‘Stand By’

“Everybody stand by,” she said. “We’ve got a couple of
opposite-direction arrivals so it’s going to be a little bit of
a delay on your departures.”

A video reproduction of the air-traffic radar display
showed arriving Flight 3329, operated for US Airways Group Inc.
by Republic Airlines, heading east down the Potomac River toward
the airport. The first departing plane, Flight 3071, operated by
Chautauqua Airlines, had just lifted off toward the north and
turned slightly to the west.

Flight 3329 flew in a complete circle before turning south
and west of the airport, according to the video.

The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board will also
investigate the incident, Eric Weiss, a spokesman for the agency
said in an e-mail. The safety board, which investigates aviation
accidents and incidents, will review recordings of radio
communications and radar plots, and interview the people
involved, Weiss said.

“We are currently investigating and working with the FAA
to determine what occurred,” said Todd Lehmacher, a US Airways
Group spokesman. “The safety of our customers and employees is
always our top priority.”

Reagan National was the scene of an incident in March 2011
in which a lone controller on duty after midnight fell asleep.
Two jets were forced to land without clearance as controllers in
other facilities attempted to reach the tower worker.